Processing facilities are often managed using process control systems. Example processing facilities include manufacturing plants, chemical plants, crude oil refineries, and ore processing plants. Among other operations, process control systems typically interact with and control various field devices, such as sensors and actuators, in the processing facilities.
Field devices are typically configured and commissioned to operate in a specific process control system and are monitored during operation in that process control system. Engineers, operators, or other personnel routinely use configuration tools to configure, commission, and monitor the field devices. Different configuration tools are often used in different process control systems or even within the same process control system, often depending on the type(s) of communication protocol(s) used in the process control system(s). Quite a few of the communication protocols are standard, and a configuration tool associated with a standard communication protocol can often be used in any process control system supporting that communication protocol.